


Aphros' Sacred Brownie Recipe

by Minutia_R



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Baking, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-02-10 13:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2027163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minutia_R/pseuds/Minutia_R
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Just one of Leo’s stupid jokes, and if Jason had just laughed it off--</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Then Leo wouldn’t be looking up at him like he was going to be weird about this, like maybe he thought Jason was going to start hitting on him or something, just because--</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>“Brownies,” said Leo finally.</i>
</p>
<p>In which Leo shares his brownie recipe, and Jason sucks at relationships.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aphros' Sacred Brownie Recipe

**Author's Note:**

> So I was rereading _Mark of Athena_ and I got to the part where Aphros gives his brownie recipe to Leo, and I remembered [this comic](http://ilyone.tumblr.com/post/87599137778/hello-guys-ive-been-away-for-a-few-days-with) and especially [this one](http://ilyone.tumblr.com/post/87608030668/now-i-have-the-weirdest-mental-image-of-jason-actually) from ilyone's excellent [chronology of a friendship](http://ilyone.tumblr.com/tagged/chronology-of-a-friendship) and a few things just sort of clicked. You don't have to read chronology of a friendship in order to understand what's going on here--in fact this story is not 100% compliant with chronology of a friendship canon, although I've used several of the details--but you should read chronology of a friendship anyway, because it's good.

The day Jason had his brilliant idea, Leo was teaching arts and crafts at the forge. That was lucky, because otherwise he could be kind of hard to track down. He tended to skip a lot of the regular camp activities, and Jason didn’t really want to have this conversation in front of the entire Hephaestus table at dinner. But after a group of younger campers poured out the forge, chattering and clutching their first clumsy attempts at spears and shields, Leo was left alone, hammering some dents out of a sheet of Celestial bronze and whistling the Rolling Stones’ _Play With Fire_ between his teeth.

“Hey, Leo,” said Jason. “So . . . you can cook, right?”

“You tell me. You ate my tacos from New York to California, and I didn’t hear you complaining at the time. So can I cook?”

Jason laughed, a bit nervously. “Yeah, you can cook. I was just wondering if you’d be willing to help me out with something . . . I’ve got this friend, and--I mean, the plates in the dining pavillion will give you anything you want, right, but sometimes he shows up at odd hours and it’s not mealtime and . . . .”

“Dude.” Leo put down his hammer and actually looked at Jason, an unusually good sign in any conversation with Leo. “Hazel fusses over Nico enough already. He doesn’t need another mom.”

Yeah, it had been kind of obvious who Jason was talking about, hadn’t it. “I’m sure Hazel makes sure he eats when he’s at Camp Jupiter, but when he’s here . . . it’s not like I really think he’s going to starve or anything. But, you know. He has this thing about feeling like he’s not wanted--I just thought it’d be nice to make sure he knows people are thinking about him.”

“So what, you have a crush on him or something?” said Leo.

“What? No! No, nothing like that, don’t be ridiculous, I--” Jason stumbled to a stop, because Leo was giving him this look. It had been a joke. Just one of Leo’s stupid jokes, and if Jason had just laughed it off--

Then Leo wouldn’t be looking up at him like he was going to be weird about this, like maybe he thought Jason was going to start hitting on him or something, just because--

It wasn’t as if he even had a crush on Nico. Jason was dating the hottest girl at camp, wasn’t he? But Nico had taught Jason Mythomagic, and he wanted to do something nice for him in return. And maybe thinking about doing something nice for Nico made Jason happier than he could really explain.

“Brownies,” said Leo finally.

“Sorry?” said Jason.

“You’re never sure exactly when Nico’ll tun up, so you want something that’ll keep a few days. Brownies will do that, if you wrap them up well. Plus they’re loaded with simple and complex carbohydrates, so they’re perfect for a quick energy fix after a busy day of monster-slaying. And they’re like the ultimate comfort food.” Leo frowned, turning his hammer over in his hands a couple of times. “If you’re American, anyway. I don’t have a recipe for panforte. But I do . . .” he gave a characteristic Leo Pause, like he wanted to make sure everyone was watching when he pulled a rabbit out of his hat. “I do have a sacred brownie recipe.”

“What?”

“Watch and learn, my young apprentice.” Leo went over to a heavy filing cabinet, unlocked one of the drawers, and took out a small cardboard box. The box was a little battered and wrinkled, like it had gotten soggy and then been allowed to dry. There was something familiar about that box.

“Heeeey,” said Jason. “Are those the brownies you got from Camp Underwater Party Pony? Man, those were _incredible_.”

“I know, right? Not too much butter, that’s the secret. Otherwise it’s dead easy, any idiot could make them.” He grinned over his shoulder and handed Jason an index card. There were no actual brownies left in the box, which on reflection would have been gross. “No offense.”

“Hey, you realized when something you said might be considered offensive. Good job.” Jason scanned the recipe. Yeah, he could do this. “Of course, you went ahead and said it anyway, but, you know. Baby steps.”

Leo laughed. “Screw you,” he said. And didn’t follow it up with a gay joke, so Jason might not have to strangle him.

“I guess I’ll ask Chiron if I can use the kitchen in the Big House?” Jason nibbled his lip uncertainly. _Chiron_ probably wouldn’t ask if Jason had a crush on Nico DiAngelo. But he would give him a very unsettling look.

“Nah, make ‘em here. Not much counter space, but--” Leo hooked a thumb at an oven in the corner. “We got real precise temperature control.”

#

The first thing Jason noticed when Leo strode into Cabin One, a week later, was the expression on his face. Jason had never seen it before, and he wanted to stop seeing it right now. It was terrifying. The second thing--

“Uh, Leo? . . . You’re on fire?”

It was really just his hands that were on fire, which didn’t make Jason feel much better, since the next thing he did was stick a finger in Jason’s face.

“ _First_ of all. Next time you expect me to lie for you, give me some advance warning, because I am _really not that good_ at figuring out these things on the fly.”

“What?” said Jason, honestly baffled.

“Second.” Leo counted it off on another flaming finger. “I would _really appreciate it_ if you didn’t ask me to lie to my friends. Nico is a kind of creepy dude, but he’s a friend.”

That did not clear things up at all. Jason backed up a step and shook his head helplessly. “You . . . Nico . . . what?”

“He asked me if I knew where you bought those brownies. Because you were being a little cagey about it, but they were the best he’d ever tasted, and since I was your best friend I might know--”

“He liked the brownies?” Which was not the smartest thing to say. Jason held up his hands and went on quickly before his stuff could start spontaneously combusting. “I mean--I didn’t tell him I bought them, he just assumed it, and I didn’t correct him, I didn’t want to make it a bigger deal than it was--”

“Meaning it was a big deal and you didn’t want him to know that.” Leo gave him a look of utter disgust, but at least the flames had gone out. “But here’s another thing. If Nico asked me because I’m your best friend, he might have asked Piper because she’s your girlfriend. I mention this fact in case you’ve forgotten it.”

“I didn’t--”

“Shut up, I’m not done. I covered your ass with Nico, but _fuck_ if I’m going to lie to Piper. She was my friend before you were, you know.”

“I know. I didn’t mean to--I didn’t plan any of this. It just sort of . . . happened.”

Like his relationship with Piper had just sort of happened. Like, if Jason were honest with himself, his relationship with Reyna would probably have happened if Juno hadn’t whisked him away from Camp Jupiter. It was nothing against Piper; she was smart, and brave, and funny, and extremely sexy. He liked her a lot. And it had been easier to find himself sliding into the role of her boyfriend than it would have been to tell her no and make her sad.

But when Jason thought of the burning intensity of Nico’s eyes over the goblet of poison back in Greece--when he remembered the way his shoulders had shaken with laughter after Jason had made a spectacularly stupid move in Mythomagic--he wondered what it would be like to actually make a choice, rather than just letting things happen.

“Uh-huh,” said Leo, arms crossed, like he was very impressed with Jason’s godlike powers of making excuses.

“Look, I’m sorry, man,” said Jason. “I wouldn’t ask you to lie to Piper. I’ll--I’ll talk to her.”

Leo shrugged. His body language was a bit less _I-will-incinerate-you_. “Yeah, well, you’d better.”

Jason started getting a shaky, adrenaline-letdown feeling like he’d just been fighting a giant--which was stupid, because he hadn’t been in any danger. Face it, in a fight he could take Leo any day of the week. But he hated having people mad at him.

Leo took a screwdriver out of his toolbelt, tossed it in the air, end-over-end, caught it. “I’ve had about enough of organic lifeforms this week. I’m going to lock myself in Bunker 9 and work on my Archimedes sphere, and when I come out I expect you to have fixed your relationship problems. Or if you haven’t, don’t drag me into the middle of them again, all right?”

“All right,” said Jason. “I am--I’m really sorry about this.”

“‘Sokay. I shouldn’t have come all burning man at you. I just hate being blindsided, you know?” Leo turned to go, and over his shoulder he added, “And, um . . . good luck.”

“Thanks.”

What had Jason been doing before Leo had come in? His breastplate was on his bed, and a scouring pad-- _Do you polish that until you can see your face in it?_ Piper sometimes teased him. Honestly, it would probably be a good idea to spend less time polishing his armor, and more looking himself in the face.

He just didn’t want anyone to get hurt. That’s what he always told himself. But Leo had gotten hurt already, and Piper was bound to be hurt one way or another if this kept up. And Nico--well, Jason didn’t know about Nico. In some ways, it didn’t really matter. It was past time for Jason to decide what he wanted, and to deal with the consequences of that, whatever they were. However much it scared him.

But hey. Nico had liked the brownies.

**Author's Note:**

> You can listen to the song Leo is whistling at the beginning [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QlBTOAqHhk) Leo likes the Rolling Stones because they remind him of his mom; I meant to choose a better-known song of theirs but I was looking through their discography and I couldn't not. As for how Jason recognizes it, well, Leo was in charge of the sound system for the entire quest of the Argo II, wasn't he?


End file.
